


Precipice

by VampirePaladin



Category: Persona 4
Genre: Alternate Universe - Magical Girls, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-20
Updated: 2016-08-20
Packaged: 2018-08-09 22:21:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,760
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7819507
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VampirePaladin/pseuds/VampirePaladin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Yukiko and Chie dangle over the edge.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Precipice

**Author's Note:**

  * For [chaoticrandomness](https://archiveofourown.org/users/chaoticrandomness/gifts).



In your average, everyday magical girl series, the normal ones, not the ones that air at midnight meant to sell figurines to otaku, the badguys would attack various places relatively near to where the protagonists live. They would only attack places and locations that a teenage girl could feasibly and easily get to. Attacks outside of the magical girl’s hometown would only happen if the girl was already on vacation or had other plans to leave town for awhile. It was all very convenient for fictional magical girls.

It was a shame then that things were never so easy for magical girls in the real world. Attacks often happened, not just outside of Inaba, but outside of Japan. Yes, the newest popular place to hangout, or that restaurant having a huge sale would be a monster plot, but so would bars, factories, and locations with adult only entertainment. It made investigating and stomping out all of these attacks much more difficult than was shown on TV. 

There were at least a few things in favor for the magical girls. The first was that the internet existed. When weird stuff happened people had an avenue to discuss it online. It took some work hunting down all of those leads. Many were false. Some were supernatural, but had no connection to actual monster attacks. The rest were the real deal. If it initially slips past the notice of a magical girl then over time, as more and more people encounter the same phenomena, the reports would build up and up until you couldn’t help but notice it.

That is what had happened with the Ichinokawa Mine, a mine abandoned in the 50s. It was supposed to be sealed off, impossible for anyone but worms and bugs to get into. Few people still lived near it, so it had taken longer than normal for stories to trickle onto the internet. Stories of noises coming from the sealed up mouth of the cave, of the ground randomly shaking, and of mysterious, grotesque people appearing at night was enough to eventually get the attention of a trio of magical girls located in Japan. 

There was more than one group of magical girls in the world. There was at least a good dozen on every continent except Antarctica. Many of the larger island nations had one or two as well. In Japan there were three: Rise, Chie, and Yukiko. The closest team to them was in Taiwan. Any extra help would take awhile to arrive.

The three girls found the entrance, which was supposed to be sealed with concrete, blasted open. Fragments of concrete were still clinging to the entrance. A thick, gritty dust coated the ground at least an inch thick, possibly more in some spots. The three girls had no choice but to enter. The mine was well lit with balls of light floating up near the entrance, attached to nothing. They didn’t say a word, but the girls exchanged glances. They knew that this meant that the people in the mine weren’t normal people. 

They had spent the months since becoming magical girls fighting a boy around the same age as themselves. He had grey hair and always wore glasses. He created monsters to fight the girls from the deck of cards he carried with him. Whenever someone pointed out his resemblance to Narukami Yu, a boy from their school who was also their friend, Rise always vehemently denied that they looked anything alike.

The girls took their time, carefully picking their steps as they made their way deeper and deeper into the mine until they reached the bottom. It was a wide open space, over fifty feet wide, lit up like the mid-day sun had followed the girls. There were three walls of rough stone. On the fourth side was a drop so deep that none of that bright light reached the bottom. At even the slightest provocation pieces of the floor would chip and fall off into the abyss. 

Their enemy was waiting for them at the bottom of the mine. Standing in the middle was the grey haired boy in glasses. He had his sword in hand. It was pretty normal for him to not talk much as he fought the girls. There was something different about him this time. Maybe it was the way he had his lips pressed together or how white his knuckles were on the hilt of his sword, whatever it was, something was off. The boy crushed a card in his hands and a very cute white creature with a round body and a blue hat on its head appeared with a jolly laugh.

Fire, ice, and wind clashed in the enclosed space, the sword was blocked with the heavy metal of Rise’s Stellar Mic. The girls had the advantage of numbers and they were pressing it. The grey haired boy and his monster were forced to take a defensive stance. As he had been exchanging blows he had been moving closer and closer to the exit. When he made a run for it Rise ran right after him. Chie and Yukiko were further in, with the monster between them and the exit.

That was when the explosions started. The whole cave was shaking. Torrents of rock and dirt fell from above, burying the monster, and blocking the only way out. The floor began to shear away on the side with the drop. Yukiko somehow managed to grab ahold of Chie’s hand as the ground fell out from beneath their feet. She made a blind, desperate grab and her fingers caught hold of a rock. With a jerk the two girls stopped falling, only being held up by the grips of Yukiko’s fingers.

“Chie, are you alright?” Yukiko called out as she looked down at Chie. She instantly regretted it as she was hit with vertigo. Her eyes snapped back up, focusing on the few floating lights that still remained above them.

“I think so. What about you?”

“I’m fine.” Yukiko tried to pull herself or Chie up. All she was able to do was tense her muscles and then relax them. She just wasn’t physically strong enough to pull them up. If roles were reversed she was sure that Chie would have been strong enough to get them back on what little remained of the once large cavern

They both heard the crack as the cliff face began to crumble under their weight.

Chie jerked the hand that Yukiko was holding. Only barely was Yukiko able to keep her grip on Chie’s hand. Anger swelled up in Yukiko like the fires that she controlled in battle.

“What are you doing? I could have dropped you!”

“The wall is cracking. If you let go of me you might be able to pull yourself up,” Chie said. There was a note of pleading in her voice.

Emotions rolled around Yukiko. There was horror at the thought of losing Chie. Fear over what the most important person in her heart almost did to protect Yukiko. “I’m not letting go of you! Either we both get up or we both fall.”

“Yukiko, I don’t want you to get hurt or die.”

“I’m not going to let you sacrifice yourself for me!”

“Well then what do you want us to do?”

Yukiko braced herself and looked down at Chie’s face. There was dirt smearing her cheeks and hair. The green and gold of Chie’s outfit, a short Chinese style dress over a pair of shorts, was like a beacon as it reflected the lights. Chie’s muscles where visible, toned and lean, on her arms. Their eyes met.

There were really only two options open to Yukiko. She could let Chie go, let her die, and Yukiko could live or Yukiko could let go of the wall. 

Yukiko took a deep breath and said, “I love you.” Finally, she said those words that she had been keeping bottled up inside her for so long. They had been words that she had yearned to say and feared the consequences of at the same time. She had decided long ago that she would prefer to keep her best friend instead of risk losing it over the small chance of becoming something else.

She let go of the wall. It was hard, but Yukiko forced herself to keep her eyes open as they fell. She turned to look at Chie before they were too far from the light. Chie’s expression changed from shock, to fear, to determination. Yukiko was pulled into Chie’s arms. They felt warm and safe even as they fell.

“Frigid Obelisk,” Chie yelled in accented English.

A hunk of ice shot out of the wall. Chie crashed into it, using her body to shield Yukiko from the impact. The ice broke and they fell through it, falling after them.

“Frigid Obelisk,” Chie yelled again.

Once more they crashed into the ice and broke through it. Again and again Chie repeated this. The repeated crashes began to slow their fall down. Every time Chie took the brunt of the impact for Yukiko. When they hit the bottom Chie was bruised, bleeding and almost out of energy.

Yukiko didn’t even get up. She just rolled onto her back. Countless ice shards were going to impale the two of them if she didn’t act fast.

“Burning Flabellum,” Yukiko cried. In her hands appeared a fan made of pure fire. It didn’t burn her hands or her clothing. She put as much energy into it as she could, expanding it, strengthening it, making it burn hotter. All of the ice instantly melted as it hit the tongues of fire. Most of it completely evaporated into steam. Only a drizzle, like a summer shower, made it through to the girls.

“I love you too.” Chie’s words were quiet, like a rabbit that would run off at any second.

“Chie,” Yukiko said. She moved so that she could hold Chie in her arms. She was so happy, more than she should have been considering what they just did. “Do you think you can walk?”

“Yeah.”

In the darkness Yukiko helped Chie to her feet. They had to move slowly, but they eventually found a way out of the mine after some luck, some information remembered from a class field trip, and a few choice uses of their powers. It was already night when they made it out.

Under the sparkling gems of the night, the two girls held hands as they walked back to town together.


End file.
